1. Field
The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and a method for setting a maximum transmission unit (MTU) and, more particularly, to an apparatus and a method for setting an MTU according to a communication network environment.
2. Discussion of the Background
A wireless communication technique has evolved from a first-generation (1G) analog wireless communication technique using a frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) scheme to a second-generation (2G) digital wireless communication technique using a code division multiple access (CDMA) or a time division multiple access (TDMA) method, and to a third-generation (3G) wireless communication technique (IMT-2000 (WCDMA), WiBro, etc.) for providing a voice service and a more comprehensive non-voice service (data, image or video). Research to develop a fourth-generation (4G) wireless communication technique for providing a complete multimedia wireless communication service is ongoing.
As described above, with the development of the wireless communication technique, new networks have been introduced and various wireless communication networks such as CDMA 2000, Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), Wireless Broadband (WiBro), WiFi, WiMAX, or Long Term Evolution (LTE) have been used.
A user terminal performs data communication with a wireless communication network and may provide various data services to a user. In the related art, in an environment in which various wireless communication networks are used, data communication with a wireless communication network is performed using a maximum transmission unit (MTU) value (for example, 1,500 bytes), which is standardized for compatibility with other networks having different performance.
However, if data communication is performed using the MTU value fixed to the standardized value as described above, communication efficiency may be lower than possible according to the kind of the wireless communication network for performing data communication, or communication may be impossible if the MTU is too high and cannot be is supported.
For example, if a user terminal having an MTU value fixed to 1,500 bytes accesses a 4G network, such as an LTE network supporting an MTU of 2,000 bytes or more, to perform data communication with another terminal connected to the 4G network or to perform data communication with a server located in a broadband Internet network supporting an MTU of 2,000 bytes, communication may be inefficient since the network to which the user terminal is connected and the network to which the communication counterpart is connected supports the MTU of 2,000 bytes.
In another example, if the user terminal having the MTU value fixed to 1,500 bytes accesses a 2G network, such as a general packet radio service (GPRS) or CDMA network supporting an MTU of about 700 bytes, to perform data communication with a server located in a WCDMA network supporting an MTU of 2,000 bytes, the user terminal attempts to perform data communication using an MTU of 1,500 bytes. However, this is higher than the MTU supported by the 2G network, a router of the 2G network may not process the packets, and thus communication may be impossible.
In another example, if a user terminal having an MTU value fixed to 1,500 bytes accesses a 4G network, such as an LTE network supporting an MTU of 2,000 bytes or more, to perform data communication with a server located in a 2G network supporting an MTU value of 700 bytes, a router of the 2G network may not process the packets and thus communication may be impossible.